1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to moisture sensors, and more particularly relates to moisture sensors mounted on vehicles for moving agricultural products.
2. Background Information
Agricultural products such as hay, alfalfa, grass, straw, cotton, and other fibrous materials are packed into bales of various shapes during part of their processing. The bales can be large cylindrical bales, small rectangular bales, or large rectangular bales. These agricultural products will be referred to as hay bales, but may include any type of baled agricultural product. The bales are typically stacked either side-by-side or in a multi-layer configuration. The bales may be covered by plastic or placed under a covering or left out in the open. The moisture content of the agricultural product can be a problem with such baled products. If the moisture content is too high, the wet areas of the bale can produce heat, and the heat can be sufficient to start a fire therein. When a bale catches fire, it can cause neighboring bales to catch fire and the entire haystack, along with the barn or shed it is in, can be destroyed by fire. This is a problem for people who grow such agricultural products, transport, store, buy, and insure them.
Such fires usually occur within six weeks of baling, but may occur in hay several years old. Fire can occur in loose hay and all types of bales or stacks. Fires can occur in hay stored inside or outside. The fires are caused by the growth of microorganisms in the hay. As a microorganism feeds and multiplies, they generate heat. If the moisture content of the hay is high enough, this allows the microorganisms to grow. If the moisture content is in the center of the bale, then heat begins to be produced, which is slow to dissipate from the center of a large bale. Certain bacteria grow well in hot conditions. These are called thermophilic (heat loving) bacteria. When microorganisms cause an elevated temperature, the presence of thermophilic bacteria allows them to begin growing in the more intense temperatures and they can then boost temperatures to a higher level. At these higher temperatures, carbon in the hay combines readily with oxygen and the heated hay can self ignite in the presence of air. This process causes spontaneous combustion of the hay.
Therefore, it is important to know the moisture content of the hay, especially in the center. There are numerous moisture sensors in the prior art, such as moisture probes that are inserted by hand into a hay bale, or which are mounted on the hay baler itself. The hay baler mounted moisture sensors have a sensor on the side of a chute down which the hay bale travels. As the hay bale travels down the chute, the moisture sensor determines the moisture of the hay on the exterior of the bale. However, it does not sense the moisture of the hay in the interior of the bale. After baling, the bale may gradually dry over a period of time.
One step in the operation that would make the most difference in preventing hay fires is the step of loading, transporting, or stacking hay bales. If at this step the moisture content in the interior of a hay bale could be sensed, bales that have moist centers could be segregated and dealt with. This would have the advantage of eliminating hay fires and thus eliminating the loss of the agricultural product as well as the barn or structure that it is enclosed within.
This would also be of benefit to insurance companies. If the insurance company knew the moisture content of a group of bales, the insurance company could insure the agricultural product at a lower price, thus saving the grower money in premiums.
The ideal time to take the moisture sensing step is when a bale loading vehicle is moving the bale from one place to another, as the bales are loaded into a truck, stacked in a barn, or moved from the field to a shed. In addition to sensing the moisture while a bale is being moved, such a moisture sensing vehicle could test the moisture of bales merely by driving up to the bale and taking a moisture reading.
What is missing in the prior art and therefore what is needed, is a moisture sensing system that is operated in conjunction with a bale lifting vehicle. Such a moisture sensing system would be able to sense the moisture of an interior of a hay bale, preferably at more than one point. It would also have a moisture readout that is visible to the vehicle's operator, so that moisture readings could be taken and evaluated without the operator leaving the seat of the vehicle. Ideally such a system would have a way to record moisture and enter information about bale numbers, lot numbers, bale locations, barn numbers, and other information related to identifying such bales. Such a device would also have the ability to store such information in memory, and print it out when a report was necessary. The report could be utilized by the farmer to obtain better insurance rates, by the shipper to know that the shipping container would not be destroyed by fire, by transporters to ensure that their equipment is not at risk by fire, and by the grower to verify that the hay is not in danger of burning. They hay purchaser would also benefit by this report, whether generated by the farmer or by the purchaser.